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1 year ago
Monday, June 8, 2009
Starting over, over?
So many things have happened since I last wrote on my debt blog! I am still in debt, trying to stay afloat with the waves of life! I am thankful, though, we are holding somewhat steady with our mortgage and trying not to use our credit cards for things we cannot afford. Unfortunately it seems we are at the point again where the money going out is more than the money coming in. I also wish I had the resolve to "stay the course" when it comes to killing our debt and being able to live within our means. I think we do live within our means, but the glaring hot spot in the outgoing money belongs to our enormous mortgage payment. Not sure what will happen next.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Day 9: Make Time to Manage Your Finances
Day 7: Make Time to Manage Your Finances
The one thing that I need to do is make time to manage my finances. I am trying to sit down and finish the whole budget thing, but it is taking longer than I thought. The other thing I really need to work on is our emergency fund. I had to take my car in twice this month to get work done for about $350. I had planned to put about that much into our emergency fund, since we made a little more last month. So much for that. The one thing I am glad we did was pay off about $200 on the lowest credit card, but we put it right back on with the second car problem. So no momentum so far in getting this first card paid off. We only have about $400 on it, so it should get paid off within the next 3-6 months depending on how much we can make then. That will be a good day!
So to finish this thing off, I think I will commit to trying to sit down every sunday night for at least a few minutes to try and rectify our budget.
The one thing that I need to do is make time to manage my finances. I am trying to sit down and finish the whole budget thing, but it is taking longer than I thought. The other thing I really need to work on is our emergency fund. I had to take my car in twice this month to get work done for about $350. I had planned to put about that much into our emergency fund, since we made a little more last month. So much for that. The one thing I am glad we did was pay off about $200 on the lowest credit card, but we put it right back on with the second car problem. So no momentum so far in getting this first card paid off. We only have about $400 on it, so it should get paid off within the next 3-6 months depending on how much we can make then. That will be a good day!
So to finish this thing off, I think I will commit to trying to sit down every sunday night for at least a few minutes to try and rectify our budget.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Back to work: busy work and Day 8 - Stop using your credit card!
Day 8: Stop using your credit cards
OK, I am finally sitting down and getting through some of the stuff. It has still been kinda crazy around here, with the short vacations and getting ready for school and starting soccer and.. and.. and...I could go on. Anyway, I have been pretty good about not using our credit card these last two months. I did have to use it to get some gas right before I got paid this last week, but I made a payment to the card the day I was paid, so I feel OK about it. I think if I know I can repay the card within the week, I will feel good if I have to use it. Since we had only $10 in our bank account, and I have to drive about an hour each way to work, well, you get the idea. Gas is not cheap! Although I am thankful that it has gone down lately.
I think I had a belief in my head that using my credit card made me seem important. I would use it to go out for dinner, take clients to lunch, buy gifts, etc. These things are nice if I could have afforded them on my own, but I never paid it back. Even if I expense the lunch, when I got the check from work I would have to pay bills with it instead of pay back the money I borrowed. I still realize that we have to be able to pay our bills, but we are trying our hardest not to use those pesky cards.
I do believe I have to analyze my spending some more. I know there are things that we buy at the grocery store or on the go that we really don;t need. We also have a budget that we made, but we need to sit down and go over it for this last month so we can find out if it is working. The good news is I did receive a decent commission this month, but next month is not looking so good, so we may be back to trying to struggle to make the payments. I am hoping we can put more down toward our emergency fund with that extra money. All is in God's hands, and I am trying to be wise with what he has given me!
OK, I am finally sitting down and getting through some of the stuff. It has still been kinda crazy around here, with the short vacations and getting ready for school and starting soccer and.. and.. and...I could go on. Anyway, I have been pretty good about not using our credit card these last two months. I did have to use it to get some gas right before I got paid this last week, but I made a payment to the card the day I was paid, so I feel OK about it. I think if I know I can repay the card within the week, I will feel good if I have to use it. Since we had only $10 in our bank account, and I have to drive about an hour each way to work, well, you get the idea. Gas is not cheap! Although I am thankful that it has gone down lately.
I think I had a belief in my head that using my credit card made me seem important. I would use it to go out for dinner, take clients to lunch, buy gifts, etc. These things are nice if I could have afforded them on my own, but I never paid it back. Even if I expense the lunch, when I got the check from work I would have to pay bills with it instead of pay back the money I borrowed. I still realize that we have to be able to pay our bills, but we are trying our hardest not to use those pesky cards.
I do believe I have to analyze my spending some more. I know there are things that we buy at the grocery store or on the go that we really don;t need. We also have a budget that we made, but we need to sit down and go over it for this last month so we can find out if it is working. The good news is I did receive a decent commission this month, but next month is not looking so good, so we may be back to trying to struggle to make the payments. I am hoping we can put more down toward our emergency fund with that extra money. All is in God's hands, and I am trying to be wise with what he has given me!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Starting the emergency fund and budgeting
I made my first extra payment to the my smallest debt this last Wednesday! I think it is kind of rewarding to pay off a debt and then move to the next one. Frugal dad - one of my blogs on the right did some math that showed paying off the smallest one didn't always save the most money. He also made the point, though, that paying off an entire credit card could motivate you to get through the process faster. I believe that to be true as I try to pay off my debt. It feels good to work toward a simple goal of paying off the smallest one first and then address the bigger and more difficult ones as you have achieve bigger debt payoffs. Anyway, we are on our way.
We also have the budget in place to go forward. We sold off a mutual fund this last month in order to help pay for our mortgage, but I think it should also be enough to fund our emergency fund for now. That will help us not to use any credit cards as we try and get rid of the debt.
There is also one last thing, we are coming up on the start of school and obviously we need to buy new clothes and school supplies, etc. We have been able to save a little bit by getting some uniform hand-me-downs from a neighbor, and my wife ran across a killer sale where she only spent 6 dollars and bought a ton of supplies(my mom also helped us out)! We will see how far that goes, and hopefully it will be enough so we can continue to try and decrease our spending.
We also have the budget in place to go forward. We sold off a mutual fund this last month in order to help pay for our mortgage, but I think it should also be enough to fund our emergency fund for now. That will help us not to use any credit cards as we try and get rid of the debt.
There is also one last thing, we are coming up on the start of school and obviously we need to buy new clothes and school supplies, etc. We have been able to save a little bit by getting some uniform hand-me-downs from a neighbor, and my wife ran across a killer sale where she only spent 6 dollars and bought a ton of supplies(my mom also helped us out)! We will see how far that goes, and hopefully it will be enough so we can continue to try and decrease our spending.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Day 7 - Snowball your payments and Dave Ramsey
Day 7: Snowball your payments
Day 7 - Snowballing your debt, is a good time to start talking about the Dave Ramsey total money makeover. As NCN talks about his day 7 of his ways of reducing debt, he is referring to what Dave Ramsey likes to call snowballing your debt. What he means is to start with your smallest debt and begin paying that off while making minimum payments to your other debts.
Here's a little of what mine looks like:
I have 4 credit cards, one with $450, one with 3900, one with 7700 and one with 11,000. On my lowest credit card with $450, I will pay about $50 per month for 9 months to pay it off. During that time on my other cards I will pay minimums of about $75, $150 and $250. When the first card gets paid off I will add that first payment to the second lowest debt to start making a $125($75+$50) payment. When that is paid off I will add that payment to the next lowest debt to make a $275 payment. As you see the payments get higher and the time to pay off the debt gets shorter. I believe it will be a great motivator.
I am hoping to pay off that first one soon and we will see how the snowball will work!! I am going to try and put any extra money I have into our debt. I already lowered my input into my 401k about $250 per month, so I am hoping that will help. I am also selling some things and getting a emergency fund started. We are getting what Dave Ramsey calls "Gazelle intense"! Hoo-Raa!
Day 7 - Snowballing your debt, is a good time to start talking about the Dave Ramsey total money makeover. As NCN talks about his day 7 of his ways of reducing debt, he is referring to what Dave Ramsey likes to call snowballing your debt. What he means is to start with your smallest debt and begin paying that off while making minimum payments to your other debts.
Here's a little of what mine looks like:
I have 4 credit cards, one with $450, one with 3900, one with 7700 and one with 11,000. On my lowest credit card with $450, I will pay about $50 per month for 9 months to pay it off. During that time on my other cards I will pay minimums of about $75, $150 and $250. When the first card gets paid off I will add that first payment to the second lowest debt to start making a $125($75+$50) payment. When that is paid off I will add that payment to the next lowest debt to make a $275 payment. As you see the payments get higher and the time to pay off the debt gets shorter. I believe it will be a great motivator.
I am hoping to pay off that first one soon and we will see how the snowball will work!! I am going to try and put any extra money I have into our debt. I already lowered my input into my 401k about $250 per month, so I am hoping that will help. I am also selling some things and getting a emergency fund started. We are getting what Dave Ramsey calls "Gazelle intense"! Hoo-Raa!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Craziness and a Budget
My summer is officially busy. I did not think that I would not be able to sit down and write something for the last two weeks, but here I am at five-something in the morning doing just that. I am usually off to work by now, but I have a dentist appointment this morning, so I could get a few minutes in. It seems like since we left for vacation back on the 9th, we have had something going on every night! I can't complain, though. We were invited to do some very nice things without spending any money, so it was a blessing.
We were able to write up a budget in the last two weeks that has really been an eye opener for me. It looks like we are about $800 over budget every month. We really need to push that number down, and I am looking for a part time job that will help. My wife is also trying to work a little more than she has. She doesn't work much as it is because she is a stay at home mom, but I think we are realizing that needs to change a little. Hopefully I can find something part time that fits around my schedule and that can help us get over the hump!! I am going to continue writing about the 33 ways of reducing debt while also commenting about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. I will also update the job and budget situation. Until then, everyone can just mail me small unmarked bills dirctly to my house...
We were able to write up a budget in the last two weeks that has really been an eye opener for me. It looks like we are about $800 over budget every month. We really need to push that number down, and I am looking for a part time job that will help. My wife is also trying to work a little more than she has. She doesn't work much as it is because she is a stay at home mom, but I think we are realizing that needs to change a little. Hopefully I can find something part time that fits around my schedule and that can help us get over the hump!! I am going to continue writing about the 33 ways of reducing debt while also commenting about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. I will also update the job and budget situation. Until then, everyone can just mail me small unmarked bills dirctly to my house...
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Vacation Time
I just got back from Lake Tahoe this Monday, and it has been crazy. I will be continuing the 33 days and also blogging a little about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. A friend of mine gave me the audio book, so I have been listening to it when I can. It is pretty motivating, so I will comment soon on all of it! As for the vacation, we kinda spent a little, but we had to sell some stuff to pay our mortgage anyway, so that helped with the vacation.
Some other news regarding buying stuff and losing it: During our girls birthday party, I was pushed in the pool with our digital camera and my cell phone in my pocket . I was a little upset, but what could I have done? That those things aren't worth anything anyway? Well, maybe a little. I am not mad about it, just another gadget we need to buy...eventually...again. Both seem to be broken, so we will be saving for one or maybe getting one for a present next Christmas... Anyhow I must get to bed, I have to get up early for work!! Speaking of work, I am kinda looking for a part time job to work after my existing one....God is always good.
Some other news regarding buying stuff and losing it: During our girls birthday party, I was pushed in the pool with our digital camera and my cell phone in my pocket . I was a little upset, but what could I have done? That those things aren't worth anything anyway? Well, maybe a little. I am not mad about it, just another gadget we need to buy...eventually...again. Both seem to be broken, so we will be saving for one or maybe getting one for a present next Christmas... Anyhow I must get to bed, I have to get up early for work!! Speaking of work, I am kinda looking for a part time job to work after my existing one....God is always good.
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